“We have a law in our culture which demands that you either marry that girl or compensate for damages and time lost because of the pregnancy,” he says.

“It is on this basis that we will demand the company to produce these workers who have abandoned our daughters with their children.”

Separately, Dr Richard Nam, the Lango Cultural Foundation prime minister, says they are planning to negotiate with the management of Sino-hydro on how the women could be supported.

“It is our culture that once you impregnate our daughter and decline to marry her, you pay compensation for damages and upkeep of your offspring. This is what we want to make clear to them,” Dr Nam says.

“They (Chinese) should help these poor girls to raise these children. We shall sit and negotiate with them but when this fails, legal measures will be taken.”

When the Daily Monitor contacted Sino-hydro, they referred us to Uganda Electricity Generation Company Limited (UEGCL).

UEGCL corporate affairs manager Simon Kasyate said petitioning Sino-hydro over the fate of fatherless children may not bear fruit.

SEX TRADE

“Sex at Karuma is being traded on the basis of willing buyer and willing seller. These girls knew that these Chinese nationals have a lot of money that they would milk,” he says.

Alunyu, the Kamdini sub-County chairperson, says, on several occasions, they have written to the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development to intervene but they have received no response.

Alunyu says cases of prostitution and defilement have been on the rise in the region wracked by abject poverty.

“The level of sexually transmitted infections has increased because young girls and married women are trading sex and this has resulted into divorce, domestic violence and many other crimes,” he says.

As the elders seek to engage Sino-hydro, the Chinese babies are asking for more biscuits and soft drinks.